DashNet Forums Wikia:DNF Wikia Rules
To return to the Community Portal, see here. Wikis have rules. This is an obvious fact. However, the rules here are strict, and are enforced. While we allow leeway in some areas, we would rather not have people making threads about how Durr Plant is an anus woodchipper, and retain the quality of an average Wiki. That's where these rules come into play. The rules of DashNet Forums and Wikia both apply here, implying the rules are up-to-date. The typical guidelines of a quality wiki article also apply. However, we have our own rules, as well as our own policies for our procedures, and how we go about them. Please read them before you jump into the fray of this wiki. Last updated: September 24th, 2016. Our Rules *'NO FLAME BAIT' - Just no. Don't do it. This entails not using a neutral tone just to diss a user, being crude in comments, or just flat out saying something harsh directed at somebody. Repeat offenders will be banned accordingly. **'BE CIVIL' - If you get banned, and wish to ask why, rather than write a long essay yelling at the staff, you must be civil. Yelling at the staff will get you absolutely nowhere. Failure to comply with this will result in you gaining a warning. **'DON'T DERAIL THE WIKI'S THREAD' - In a similar vain, don't derail the thread on the forums about the wiki via arguing. This will also be considered a warning. **'RESPECT YOUR STAFF' - Also in a similar vain. Not just forum staff, but wiki staff. If you're going to accuse a moderator, if you're going to yell at them, if you're going to argue with them in an uncivil manner or falsely flag them on the forums, you will be banned. If you want to be respected by the staff, don't go yelling at them and insulting them; unless your idea of respect is elongated bans. *'NO EDIT WARS' - We do not appreciate cluttering of page histories for no real reason. Edit wars will result in the page possibly being locked for an undetermined amount of time. **'If you disagree with an edit being undone, contact a staff member about it before doing anything about it.' - Again, in order to prevent edit wars, ask for a staff member's approval before you undo an edit. **'Arguing with a staff member regarding accuracy is not a good idea; If a staff member says that your edit was wrong and you can not revert it, listen to them.' - Self explanatory. Listen to the staff members orders. Be aware that failure to comply will result in a ban. **'If a page is hit with an edit war, it will be locked for a week or longer.' - This is to prevent other edit wars from appearing on the page. Particularly large targets will be locked for longer. *'USE THE EDIT SUMMARY' - It makes the job of staff members easier, as it makes it so we can see your edit's work in a quick glance. You cannot be banned for this, but please do so anyways. **'Be accurate with it, too' - If you edited grammar of the personality section, say you edited the grammar of the personality section. Don't say that you changed the infobox. *'ASK QUESTIONS NOT RELATED TO THE WIKI ON THE REAL DASHNET FORUMS' - This is to help protect the forum's activity, as it has been lowered. **'Mirror questions about the wiki to it's thread' - Similar reason to the above, plus it assures you'll get an answer 9 times out of 10. *'DO NOT BAN EVADE' - This is usually seen as a more obvious rule on most wikis, and is usually left unspoken due to how obvious it really is in how it is a bad thing. However, unlike the forums, ban evasion WILL be a bannable offense. **'Your ban may be elongated if you continue to make accounts to evade your ban, and you might even be permanently banned.' - No amount of accounts you make to unban yourself will be accepted. **'Accounts made for ban evasion will be permanently banned.' - While your main account will not be permanently banned, your alt account will be. Our Banning Procedures If you break a rule, you are warned. If you get enough warnings in a span of time, you will be banned. In usual cases, how long your ban is depends on how many times you've been banned before, and how serious your offense was. As a good guide, you can usually expect this: *First ban is 1-2 weeks long. *Second ban is 1 month long. *Third ban is permanent. Vandalism Banning If you are banned for vandalism, the procedures are rather different. If you are a regular user and only vandalized after a period of time, you can usually expect this: *First ban for vandalism is 2 weeks long. *Second ban is permanent. However, if you only joined the wiki to vandalize, you will be permanently banned, immediately. We do not tolerate that sort of behavior. Manual Unbanning There are a few things to note if you are unbanned manually. *'If you are manually unbanned, due to a challenged ban or other circumstances, by default, you are placed under a heavy warning for a period between 1 day to 2 weeks.' Some exceptions may be made, but for the most part, you will be given a short warning. *'Failure to comply with rules in that period of time will get you banned again, and you will be unable to challenge that ban.' If you think you can challenge a ban, get unbanned, and continue to cause trouble, you can't, as that is just unacceptable. Reporting If you see a user breaking the rules, there are a few things you can do: *'Report them via the user talk pages.' Contact a Wiki Admin, Bureaucrat, or Founder about the situation. *'Report them via DashNet Forums.' Contacting via DashNet Forums can be more reliable in some cases, especially if the users are more active on DashNet than the Wiki itself. *'Undo vandalism.' If they vandalized an article, contact a Rollback-privileged staff member to undo their edits. Do NOTs In addition, there are a few things you shouldn't do. *'Do NOT publicly report them on the thread.' This makes you seem like a complete jerk, and while you won't be permabanned for it, it's not appreciated. We like to keep it civil. *'Do NOT report them to forum staff.' Given the wiki is unofficial, they cannot do anything about the situation. Challenging We do allow some users to challenge why they got banned or warned, and see why exactly they were banned or warned so they can avoid it, or, if they feel they were unfairly banned, they can potentially be unbanned. Challenging Rules While there are a few methods to use depending on situation, there are a few general guidelines you must follow when challenging a ban whatsoever. *'Do NOT aggressively argue with them or be rude, or you will be almost immediately ignored.' We're not going to listen to someone if all they're going to do is yell at how we suck at our jobs, how we're "mini-modding", or if you're going to falsely flag our post that announces their banning or their reasoning for it. We don't care who "did it first" or who's "wrong." If you're going to be unpleasant, you're not going to get unbanned; it's as simple as that. *'Do NOT argue about it within the forum's thread itself.' The last time this happened, the thread nearly got derailed. Failure to comply will cause your challenging to be ignored in usual circumstances. *'Don't contact them via other wikis.' This makes it just a lot more easy to track for us. How to Challenge *'For a Warning:' You can contact the staff appropriately, on or off the wiki. *'For a Ban:' Contact a staff member via personal message systems off the wiki. *'In General:' Remember the rules, and to state your Wikia username.